1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator comprising at least a water reservoir, a piping system connecting the water reservoir to a dispenser and means for maintaining the water reservoir at a predetermined temperature. In the present description, with the term water we include also still or carbonated water and any kind of beverages, carbonated or not.
2. Description of the Related Art
Refrigerators with a beverage dispenser are well known in the art. Such dispensers are particularly but not exclusively used in the so-called side by side refrigerators in which a freezing chamber is provided side by side to a chilling chamber. Usually the dispenser for water and other beverages is placed in a case of the door of the freezing chamber, particularly because the dispenser is used also for dispensing ice cubes or crushed ice produced by an ice-maker inside the freezing chamber. The reservoir for cold water is usually placed in the chilling chamber and it is maintained at the same temperature of such compartment. The reservoir can be a predetermined length of rolled up tube placed in the chilling chamber. In this case the above mentioned means for maintaining the water in the reservoir at a predetermined temperature is the cooling system of the chilling chamber. If the reservoir is used for storing hot water, usually it is placed outside the refrigerator compartments, for instance in the base zone of the refrigerator where it is also possible to use the heat released from the condenser to pre-heat the incoming water.
Standard refrigerators like the side by side model mentioned above have a pipe inside the foam insulation which connects an external water supplying source, such as a tap, to the reservoir, through the door and then to the dispenser area. Such pipe can have a total length of about two meters or more.
When consumer pushes the paddle on the dispenser, the water that is driven by the water pressure of the main comes out; when the paddle is released, the water flow stops.
At this time the cold (or hot) water inside this pipe start to become warm (or cold), because of ambient temperature influence. So the first glass of water at the next dispensing is water at almost ambient temperature. Therefore the user is either provided with water not at the correct temperature or he/she can think the appliance is not working properly.